“In Poetic Theology, William Dyrness argues that one legacy of
the Reformation was the loss of contemplation. We began to privilege the ear
over the eye, the head over the heart, and beauty was to be found [only] outside
the sanctuary Calvin was intent on placing “the emphasis on the people and
their discipleship in the world and not on the space of worship in the church”
(218). Implicitly, the place of gathering was denigrated, and indirectly, place
itself suffered.

There are a host of issues
that rise from this. First, church buildings became sanitary and dull, no
longer evoking the imaginative energy that impels the richness of worship.
Second, we lost tough with the power of symbol. Sacraments themselves became
almost meaningless. This, combined with the priority of preaching, made it
increasingly difficult to justify both the outer and the inner gaze of the
soul. It also became difficult to justify an appeal to the affections — yet
this is the root of the will, and also the larger part of how we know our world
(even if pre-cognitive)…”